


An Exercise Of Willpower

by Skaea Daimonion (SkarmorySilver)



Category: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Foot Fetish, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Spoilers, Tickling, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:03:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29923503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkarmorySilver/pseuds/Skaea%20Daimonion
Summary: A commission for realtickling42 on DeviantArt!
Relationships: Sophia Esteed/Fayt Leingod





	An Exercise Of Willpower

**Author's Note:**

> _WARNING: The following story contains **SPOILERS** for _Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time _. It is advised to play the game itself, or otherwise watch a Let’s Play of it, before reading said story!_  
>  _This story and the below illustration accompanying it were a dual commission set I technically had ready to upload last year, but held off on it for a while due to wanting to get consent from the client... never mind that they already gave it to me in advance. ^^; I hope they don't mind that I share this publicly, but they haven't been active in a while, and I hope they're okay. Regardless, thanks so much to the person who paid me to produce this pic/story combo for their support!_  
>   
>  _Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time_ (c) tri-Ace and tri-Crescendo  
>   
> [DeviantArt link](https://www.deviantart.com/shadow-aspect/art/Commission-An-Exercise-Of-Willpower-Story-865525382)  
> 

His breathing was ragged and labored, sweat ran freely down his face, his muscles burned like fire. And yet he struggled still, determined to see his mission through, no matter what the cost. Just a little bit more, almost there…  
  
But ultimately his strength failed him. The blue-haired boy felt his limbs give out, and he collapsed, almost lifeless, his green eyes squeezing shut as fatigue and shame overwhelmed him. He had failed. He had failed the galaxy, his friends… and most importantly, he had failed himself.  
  
So it was that in the game room of the Moonbase, the exhausted youth lay there, largely unresponsive, having only completed twenty push-ups out of the one-hundred he’d promised himself he’d do. Not even close to the sixty or so he’d managed at best. Had something happened that had weakened him?  
  
In truth, Fayt Leingod realized only a moment later, it was in fact a culmination of a lot of things. Terrible things. Most of all the realization that he'd been the main target of an alien invasion that had cost a lot of other people almost everything they had held dear, including their lives in many cases. He and his friends had been forced to flee from the shattered resort planet, and a whole series of consecutive incidents, including the loss of his father just _minutes_ after he had reunited with him, had led him here, to the Moonbase, where they had only just yesterday done battle with an entity known as the Proclaimer, which had intended to exterminate mankind.  
  
It had been, suffice it to say, a _very_ rough week.  
  
All of this had weighed hard on Fayt’s conscience, and with each passing fight he had become overwhelmed with guilt and grief for being the cause of so much destruction and heartbreak, whether or not he had actually done anything to enable it. But that changed nothing. He had to set things right, and if that meant taking up his sword and seeking the guilty party with no one at his back, then so be it.  
  
A determined look crossed his eyes, and as he got back into position on the exercise mat he’d brought with him, he paused only to wipe the tears from his cheeks. He couldn’t break, not now. Not while everything was depending on him.  
  
But before he could even get the first push in, his arms wobbled, and then the pain from the previous exertion kicked in, causing him to lose his strength and fall flat on his face. He couldn’t even muster the strength to get up.  
  
It was hopeless. He was hopeless. But how else could he make up for all that had happened before but push himself harder? What would his father think of him if he had lived?  
  
As that awful thought occurred to him, all he could do was lie there, trying not to cry. He had lost almost everything he held dear, and unknowingly hurt countless more people. Maybe it was better for him to just stay in the game room forever, seeing as there was nothing left…  
  
The doors to the game room opened and closed, and in the same room now stood two girls about his age, the brown-haired one wearing purple and pink, and the one with dark blue hair clad in a long white coat with black sleeves. He didn’t even look up to acknowledge them, partly because he was too tired to do so.  
  
It was Sophia Esteed who broke the silence. “Fayt? Are you okay?”  
  
“I’m fine,” Fayt replied, his voice slightly muffled by lying face-down on the mat. “Just occupied, that’s all.”  
  
“Being face-down and motionless on the floor doesn’t exactly count as occupied if you ask me,” Maria Traydor replied with her usual acrid wit. “Have you been working yourself to the bone _again_?”  
  
“I said I’m fine!”  
  
“We’re worried about you,” said Sophia. “You haven’t been in a good mood since… well, since _that._ ”  
  
The trio was silent for a few seconds. The whole debacle they had been through had not been good for any of their emotional states. Sophia had in fact had to endure being captured and exchanged for ransom as well, but she knew that was not as bad as how Fayt himself was feeling. She hadn’t been the person the invaders had tried to kill.  
  
“Just let me finish this workout, and let me make it up to everyone. All the lives lost, all the families torn apart, they need to be avenged. And that responsibility is on me and me alone!”  
  
“Then what explains the workout?” Maria raised an eyebrow, poking at his leg with the toe of her boot.  
  
“I need to get stronger,” Fayt replied weakly. “This galaxy is counting on me, and I’m not going to let them down. Not after I… I already did the first time.”  
  
Sophia and Maria looked down at their prone friend with pitying expressions. Despite his conviction, one thing was painfully clear: he was only one person in a very big universe. The amount of foes the party had faced was incomprehensible in its enormity, and Fayt alone could not have defeated them all. Trying to fix things by himself would not end well. So of course the whole group would have to come with him, but… how could they get him to accept their presence, and not send them away with the excuse that they should be safe? Maria certainly wouldn’t have bought _that_ for a second.  
  
Sophia sat cross-legged behind her childhood friend, not knowing what else to do. “Fayt… We get it. We know how you feel. But is it really the best idea to go out there by yourself with only your sword on you? Forgive me for sounding a bit more like Maria, but there’s a difference between being brave and being foolish.”  
  
“I’d have said ‘stupid’ instead, but I concur,” added Maria.  
  
All they got in response was a quiet moan of frustration. Perhaps his being tired was making him more indifferent, or it was his guilt over everything rendering him ignorant. Either way, he wasn’t as responsive as he would’ve been before he’d been thrust into this adventure in the first place.  
  
Sophia was admittedly getting a bit annoyed that Fayt wasn’t listening. So she resorted to the only way she could at the moment to get his attention, which was to reach out and poke the nearest part of him to her.  
  
As it happened, the fact that he was doing push-ups meant that he’d placed his feet such that his toes were pointed forward for better leverage, and he had also taken his boots off so he’d have a better grip on the mat. This meant that the soles of his feet were stretched as tight as they could be, and he hadn’t shifted his position, either. The poke to his taut arch sent a jolt up his leg that led to him emitting an undignified _squeak_ , startling the girls a little. One awkward pause later, and Sophia and Maria exchanged knowing smirks.  
  
Not that Fayt was aware of this. But he knew he’d given himself away, and more specifically one aspect of him he’d kept carefully guarded for a very long time.  
  
Sophia smiled a little again, but her tone was of genuine concern. “You know… If you want, we could help with your workout.”  
  
“Hmm?”  
  
“You told me a while ago that your goal was to do a hundred push-ups, which you haven’t been able to do. But what if we made it even more of a challenge for you? See, I’ve been looking into a few niche aspects of symbology, and I’d like to try a little something I’ve been wondering about.”  
  
“Just do whatever,” Fayt replied, not even looking up at her. “I don’t really care anymore by this point.” Even so, he still couldn’t help but shudder ever so slightly.  
  
Maria snorted. “I was honestly expecting you to panic. See, when we asked Cliff if he could help us out with our little project, he flipped out immediately and ran in the opposite direction. Didn’t even wait for us to finish telling him the whole procedure…”  
  
“Wait. _What_ project?” Fayt’s voice was now slightly nervous. He’d known Sophia enough to anticipate what was coming, and there was no escape.  
  
“Well…” Sophia pulled something long and thin from her back pocket. “This here is the Enchanted Pen. I’ve been practicing symbology with it as opposed to the normal one and, recently, I found out that if you use it on exposed skin, the effect is the same as if you cast it normally.”  
  
“Yeesh, don’t remind me.” Maria felt her toes curl in her boots. “But yes, the Heal symbol works in this way at least. She wanted to know if other symbols do too, though.”  
  
Fayt said nothing. He just listened, waiting for the other shoe to drop…  
  
“So we were looking for another test subject,” said Sophia. “And you were the most fitting candidate. Whaddya say, up for the challenge?”  
  
It was at that moment that Fayt realized that he was well and truly screwed. “There really is no backing out of this, is there?” he muttered, not even moving his feet despite the tingle from having been poked still lingering. “At the very least, I kinda hope this won’t leave the game room…”  
  
“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll keep this between us alone,” Maria replied with a teasing grin. “Our little secret, promise!”  
  
“What’s gonna keep word of this from going around anyway if someone else—” Fayt began, but then Sophia poked his other arch, a sweet spot right in the middle, and he yelped again as the electrifying sensation once more hit him with all the subtlety of a ton of bricks.  
  
“Easy,” said the brunette. “We’ll just get anyone else who finds out to keep quiet by asking if they could volunteer as well.”  
  
There was a pause as those words sunk in. The blue-haired boy had understood what she was talking about within less than a second. But even when at their mercy, he was too exhausted — and stubborn — to make his escape.  
  
_Heck with it,_ he thought in resignation.  
  
“Out of curiosity,” he asked, “what symbol were you going to test out?”  
  
Sophia raised her pen. “Oh, a simple one I figured would make you feel better. You know Cure Condition, right?”  
  
“I thought that got rid of paralysis and poisoning and other typical nastiness, though?” Fayt gulped quietly after saying this, feeling his toes curl as much as they could (read: far too little).  
  
“We know,” Maria replied, before putting a hand over his right ankle to keep his foot pinned and his arch taut. “But what about fatigue? Would it cure that as well?”  
  
She nodded to Sophia, who moved in with the pen, pressing it against the part of his foot where the arch met the heel.  
  
“W-wait, what do y— EEK!” Fayt was less than prepared to feel the strokes of the pen against his foot, the blunted point scratching lightly and quickly. “EEHEHEHEHEE WHAHAHA-?! I-IS THAT THE ENCHAHAHANTED PEHEHEN?!”  
  
“I said as much, yes!” Sophia smiled as she illustrated her handiwork upon the bottom of his very trapped foot. “The ink is magically enhanced. With luck, the effect should set in once I finish.”  
  
“WAHAHAHAH! THAT HAD B-BEHEHEHETTER BE THE CURE CONDIHIHITIOHOHON!!” Fayt couldn’t help but slap his palm against the mat as the ticklish writing continued. That was all he could get out of his mouth before being totally overwhelmed, his helpless laughter echoing throughout the game room.   
  
“Not telling,” Maria replied. “It’d ruin the surprise!”  
  
“OH, COME OHOHOHON!!”  
  
Despite his distressed laughter, Sophia didn’t let up, at least not until she had carefully traced out every line, dot, and squiggle of the intricate symbol, all committed to memory. The ink seemed to glow a faint bluish white even before she was done, and while Fayt wasn’t aware of it, she definitely knew that it was already doing its work.  
  
“Ooh, that looks impressive,” said Maria. “So, what about putting the same symbol on his other foot?”  
  
“Sounds good to me,” replied Sophia.  
  
“W-WHAHAT?!” Fayt was now deeply aware of the girls’ gazes being drawn to the unadorned sole. He didn’t even get the chance to speak up before his left ankle was pinned down, and now the pen had begun wreaking havoc on his left arch. “AAIIIEEEEHEHEHEHEE—!! OMIGOSH, I-IT TICKLES SO MUUUCH!!”  
  
“Took you long enough to admit it,” Maria said with a half-scathing, half-amused tone. “But don’t worry about us. If you wanted to keep doing what you were doing, go ahead! We swear we won’t be _too_ much of a distraction.”  
  
“THAHAHAHA— THAT’S NOT V-VERY REASSURIHIHIHING!!”  
  
Even so, he noticed now that the burning in his muscles had subsided. Vitality had gradually returned to his frame by the second as he had endured the ticklish scribbling, and he didn’t want to disappoint the girls by running for his life.  
  
He did have a workout to finish, after all.  
  
Pressing his palms against the mat, he found the strength to push his body off the floor as high as it could go. _One._ His arms trembled again once he reached the height of the push, however — the sensation of the Enchanted Pen on his drum-tight sole was _maddening_. It was almost like the symbol had been specifically meant to reach every one of the most ticklish spots on his foot. Still, he couldn’t let this prevent him from achieving his goal… no matter… how much… it… TICKLED…  
  
He’d lowered his body again, and now despite chortling uncontrollably, he made another push. _Two._  
  
“Hang on, let me get something,” said Maria. “Finish up and I’ll be back.” She stood up and then left the room, the sound of the elevator doors opening and closing again barely registering in Fayt’s mind.  
  
All the while, Sophia continued working on her masterpiece without giving her living canvas a breather, enjoying his reactions as much as the feeling of her pen making contact with such pliant, ticklish flesh. She’d tickled him several times before including on his feet, but not in this fashion. Still, she was always willing to try new ways to get him to laugh himself… well, the opposite of stupid, really. Usually it was to get him to stop slacking off with his studies, which had always been a bother before—  
  
No, she couldn’t think about that. She had to focus on something else, and _quickly_.  
  
As Fayt’s laughter continued to mount and as he kept on forcing himself to lift and lower his body with steadfast rhythm in spite of that, the symbologist shifted her focus to his bare feet before her, up to and include reaching out with her other hand to tickle the center of his other sole that the ink hadn’t covered. She couldn’t help but admire them — no surprise there considering how much he’d taken care of them. He’d hardly be an athlete let alone a warrior if he hadn’t, and their silky soft surfaces were definite proof of this. What was more, they were quite massive for someone of his age — at least a size twelve, possibly thirteen. Bigger soles, of course, meant bigger canvasses… and consequently, more room for ticklish scribbles. Lots and lots and _lots_ of scribbles.  
  
Fayt, meanwhile, was beside himself with laughter as he felt every stroke of the Enchanted Pen alongside his friend’s wiggling, scritching fingernails, but his determination and stubborn pride were not going to break so easily. He hadn’t lifted his feet even once despite the sparks now shooting through his legs almost constantly, nor had he asked his friend to stop… partly because she’d not be happy if he did that. But mostly because he was determined to ignore what she was doing.  
  
Still… it felt as though his body was becoming just a bit more energized as she continued. Curious.  
  
“AHAHAHAHEHEHE — H— HOW LONG B-BEHEHEFORE YOU’RE DAAHHAHAHAHAH — D-DOHOHONE?!”  
  
“Almost there, Fayt! Just a bit more and then we’ll be able to get a result worth recording. Just don’t move your feet or I’ll have to start all over again!”  
  
“YOU M-MEHEHEHEHEEEEE— YOU MEHEHEAN I HAVE A — HHHHH — A CHOHOHOICE?!”  
  
The elevator opened up a few moments later, and Maria entered the game room again, a bucket dangling from one hand and a scrubbing brush in the other. “Got these from the nearest broom closet. Don’t worry, the soap is skin-safe.”  
  
Fayt continued rhythmically pushing himself up and down, up and down, but even as his heels wiggled and his laughter flowed, he knew he was done for the moment the soap was brought up. He’d been around his family and friends enough to know _exactly_ what this meant.  
  
“Hey hey, careful!” Sophia held down the ankle of the foot she was working over with the hand of hers’ that wasn’t sketching upon the hyper-ticklish arch. “Who knows what will happen if you make me draw the wrong symbol? Your feet could get burned, or you’d be poisoned—”  
  
“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I’M HHH-HOHOHOHOLDING STIIIILLLLL!!” His voice was almost a shriek of hysteria, since she was now outlining quick, repeated strokes upon the inside arch of his foot, which was especially sensitive.  
  
“I’m assuming the first one wore off?” Maria sat down next to Sophia, taking the brush and dipping it into the bucket full of soapy water. “We’ll have to clean it up to make room for a new one, looks like. I’m sure it’d also help get all the sweat off.”  
  
“Sure, go ahead!” replied Sophia.  
  
Immediately comprehending what was about to happen, Fayt had long since accepted that he could do nothing to stop it. He was too distracted by that blasted pen still scritching against his other foot anyway, but even so he still kept on raising his body off the floor, lowering it as much as it could go, and then raising it again, over and over. Focusing on his workout was ideal, but the overwhelming sensation being delivered to his foot was making his mind a little fuzzier than usual.  
  
Besides, and to his surprise, compared to his full-body muscle ache from before the girls had found him, this actually felt quite nice…  
  
And then the brush made contact.  
  
“GAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EEEHEHEEK! OH M-MY GOHOHOOOSSSHH! GOTTA KEEP GOING, G-GOTTA GET STROHOHONGERRRRR! ONE, T-TWO, OHOHOHONE, TWWOOOHOHOHOO…!”  
  
“You’re not even waiting for me to finish the symbol I’m working on, Maria?” Sophia raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop sketching. “Both of us at once might be a bit much—”  
  
“Hey now, Fayt’s not gonna be so reasonable as to make a break for it,” replied Maria, using the sudsy brush to work over their leader’s taut right sole. “He hasn’t asked us to stop even once. Just how much of an ego does this guy _have?_ ”  
  
“HEHEHEHEYYY! I HEHEHEH— I HEHEHEARD THAAAHAHAT!!” Fayt gave the two of them an annoyed side-eye even while laughing so hard he could barely get the words out.  
  
“Aaaaaand done!” Sophia placed the final mark on his left sole, but even while she withdrew the pen, she started using her free hand to tickle the middle of said foot bottom a second later. “Is the other one clean? There’s one more hypothesis I’d like to test out.”  
  
“NOHOHOT AGAHAHAHAIN!” Fayt howled.  
  
“Oh, let me guess, the effects of the same symbol repeated twice?” Maria chuckled. “You’re _mean_ , Sophia!”  
  
“Less mean and more analytical,” Sophia replied teasingly. “Impressive how he’s held up this long, though. Perhaps the symbols really do work!”  
  
“Well, in any case, the right foot should be clean. Go ahead and I’ll get the other one.”  
  
Surprisingly, Fayt didn’t protest, not even as the girls switched positions to allow Maria to start scrubbing his left sole, the wiry bristles of the brush sending jolt after potent jolt through his nervous system. Not that he couldn’t — he was proving more coherent than most even while being tickled to nigh insanity — but his resolve, even when in the grip of hysterics, was unshaken, willing himself to continue doing push-ups in spite of it all. But more surprising still was how the _rush_ he was now feeling due to his ticklish predicament… was actually making the workout easier! He didn’t know that was even possible, because usually being tickled was exhausting, and yet…  
  
“EEEHEHEHEHEHEHEEP! WAHAHAHAHAHA A-AT LEHEHEHEAST USE THE RIHIHI— THE RIGHT SYMBOHOHOLLLL! YOU’RE NAHAHAHA — NOT USING THE WRONG ONE, AHAHAHARE Y-YOHOHOU?!”  
  
“You’re looking pretty pumped up, all things considered.” Maria’s tone was surprisingly encouraging for such a snarker, let alone one making all the strokes of her brush as slow and torturous as possible. “I’d say we’re on the right track.”  
  
“We’ll still need to clean up this one too, though,” replied Sophia, now drawing upon where her friend’s right arch met the ball of his foot. “At least once I’m done with it, anyhow. Shouldn’t take too long…”  
  
“OHOHOH, GO AHEAD AND DRAW IT OHOHOHOUT!” Fayt replied in a mix of helpless guffawing and mock bravado. “I CAHAHAH— CAN DO THIS ALL DAHAHAHAY!”  
  
“I’ll be the judge of that, Fayt,” Maria replied, continuing to scrub the ink off his sole with ruthless precision. Sophia likewise matched her partner by making the strokes of her pen quick and repeated, scratching over the same spot a few times in succession to make sure there was enough ink for the symbol to work… and also to tickle the blue-haired lad even more. Slow, methodical torment versus rapid-fire strokes. Which would be more effective?  
  
The answer, if there was one, didn’t mean anything to Fayt. He was being tickled so much that he was feeling light-headed now, and he _still_ refused to stop pumping his arms almost like clockwork. It was almost second nature by this point: all that was in his world now was himself, the rhythm of his exercising, and the maddening sensations upon the bottoms of his big feet.  
  
“Aaaaallmooooost… There, done!” Sophia smiled in genuine admiration as she finished the symbol, its glow indicating that its magic was doing its job. Her pen would trouble Fayt no more after this. Even so, she couldn’t resist reaching out with a finger and wiggling it into the exact center of that stretched sole.  
  
“Give it a few more seconds before I finish this up, so the symbol effect takes hold,” said Maria, still scrubbing his left foot. “Then I’ll clean up the last one and you can get his ribs!”  
  
“OHOHOH, THAT’S JUST NOT FAHAHAHAIR!”  
  
“Well, the symbol does have the same potency when freshly drawn even though there’d been one previously applied,” Sophia observed, even while tickling his right foot. “Hypothesis confirmed! Just a few more seconds and then we can have some _fun…_ ”  
  
She disengaged finally, giving his right sole just a moment’s respite, but not for long as the brush switched from one sizable foot to the other, Maria shifting her position for balance before proceeding to use her free hand to tickle the one she’d just cleaned. Sophia meanwhile circled around before kneeling in front of Fayt, giving him just a second of anticipation before digging her fingertips into his shirt.  
  
“GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOHOHOU ARE EVIL, I TELL YOU! EEEHEHEHEHEVIHIHILLL!” Fayt was twisting a little in place now, laughing himself sick, his feet rocking from side to side but unable to avoid Maria’s brush and nails, while Sophia’s fingers stroked and prodded his ribs at the same time, his shirt being of no protection. “AAAAHAHAHAHAHAH A-ARE YOU DOHOHOHOHONE, OR AHAHAH — ARE YOU JUST BEHEHE… BEING M-MEHEHEHEHEAN?!”  
  
“That’s a question I can’t answer, either positively or negatively,” Maria replied, brushing much more quickly now and making sure to lather up every single inch of ticklish skin on his right sole, while her long, sharp nails danced over his left with wild abandon.  
  
The last of the magic ink had been cleaned off, but the torment didn’t stop. Eventually, even though Fayt’s mental steadfastness didn’t break, his stamina, and his balance, gave out, and his toes slipped on the mat before he rolled over onto his side, still gasping and giggling.  
  
“Dammit, you two!” He slapped the mat indignantly. “You broke my concentration! And I think I lost count and now have to do my workout all over again…” The young warrior sighed in defeat, preparing to accept his self-imposed punishment.  
  
“Actually,” said Sophia, “you’re not the only one who was keeping track. I was counting your push-ups in my head the entire time.”  
  
Fayt sat up, looking understandably taken aback. “Wait, how many did I do?”  
  
She smiled warmly at him. “A hundred and _one_.”  
  
There was silence in the game room, Fayt’s eyes widening as her words seemed to not register for a few seconds. Then he spoke again, his voice quiet.  
  
“I did it. Oh my gosh, I actually did it!”  
  
“Apparently so,” replied Maria, scooting over to sit by his side and patting him on the back. “Congratulations, Fayt! Took you long enough, I bet.”  
  
Fayt pumped his fist in triumph, and for a moment it seemed like he was on top of the world. But then a thought occurred to him, and he groaned and facepalmed.  
  
“ _Was_ that the Cure Condition symbol, Sophia?”  
  
She nodded, looking a little uneasy. “Apparently, it registers muscle burn as a kind of poisoning, and cures that as much as any other variety. So essentially it’d be great for getting you to not feel tired, too—”  
  
“No wonder!” Fayt shook his head. “That workout didn’t count. That was cheating! Well, then, looks like I’ll have to try another hundred _without_ the symbology…”  
  
“Fayt,” Maria said with an admonishing tone. “That wasn’t cheating. Not even close. You wouldn’t have made it to a hundred push-ups without the use of the Cure Condition symbol. I’ve seen _grown men_ try doing that and dropping out at around eighty at maximum, and even those times were rare. If you overexert yourself, you’ll only be _worse_ off in the long run.”  
  
“But I —” Fayt sputtered incoherently for a moment. “You were interfering—”  
  
“Maria’s right,” Sophia replied suddenly.  
  
He whipped his head to look around at her. “I — what? Whose side are you on?!”  
  
“What we were doing wasn’t interfering with your workout.” Her tone remained gentle and concerned, despite his incredulous stare. “It was _providing support for it._ Like she said, you wouldn’t have made it without our help. And by extension, well… think about it. You rescued me from my kidnappers, yes, but you couldn’t have done it without your friends’ help. The reason you managed to fight your way through half the galaxy wasn’t because of your own strength, or at least not _just_ because of it. You’re here because your friends care about you. Me, Maria, Cliff, and all the others. You wouldn’t be here in the Moonbase without us, and like it or not, we’re sticking by your side. For your sake, and for that of the universe, too.”  
  
Fayt continued staring at her, completely floored by this hitherto unknown philosophical side to her. But then he started recalling his journey and his party members’ actions along the way. Sophia providing support and cover fire. Cliff defending him from attackers attempting to sucker-punch him. Maria helping him take on foes that could kill — no, _obliterate_ a man with a single blow. And much, much more.  
  
He looked first at Sophia, and then at Maria, who silently nodded in assent.  
  
And then, finally, it hit him.  
  
His head rolled back so he was looking up at the ceiling, his breathing measured, his eyes watering again. “Everything that happened was because of me. I was the one that everyone wanted gone. My father, he… he gave his life for _me_. And I _still_ let down so many people, or worse. Anyone else would have refused to have anything to do with me by now… so how come you guys have worked so hard to care for me, when I can’t even do that myself?”  
  
Sophia sighed, and then ran her fingers along his blue-hued hair. “Because you’re at a point in this journey, in your life, where you most need people who are willing to stand up for you. We know you have a target on your head, and heck, we were there to see how that played out. But it’s not your fault. Or anyone else’s.”  
  
On his other side, Maria patted his shoulder. “That’s right, Fayt. Get over yourself. Just because this whole mess happened doesn’t mean we can’t clean it up. Emphasis on _we_ , because you’ll need someone to depend on in the days to come. Why do you think we’ve been helping you after all this time?”  
  
Fayt looked around at them again, first at Maria’s stern but almost motherly countenance, and then at Sophia’s warm but also nearly pleading look directly into his eyes. And in that moment, his heart melted.  
  
The girls were suddenly pulled in by a tight embrace, Fayt letting his tears of relief trickle down his cheeks. And they couldn’t help but hug him back.  
  
“I… I don’t know what to say,” he said, his voice breaking. “Thank you. I really did need to hear all of that, after everything that happened. And I’m sorry I doubted you both. You _all_ , honestly.”  
  
“Hey now, _we_ never doubted _you_ ,” replied Sophia. “We have your back, Fayt. What are friends for?”  
  
“Just call on us, and we’ll be there for you,” added Maria.  
  
The three of them remained like this for a few long seconds. Then Maria spoke up again. “It’s still going to be a few hours before we have to leave. There’s still plenty of time to find your father’s lab and learn of the truth about him. What do think we should do while waiting?”  
  
Fayt was about to answer that they could play on the game machine together, but then he noticed Sophia’s hand moving dangerously close to his side. An instant of worry crossed his mind, but ultimately—  
  
“If you still want to cheer me up, go ahead.”  
  
The words came out of his mouth without thinking, but it still felt like a weight had come off his shoulders.  
  
Sophia looked at him in surprise. “Really? You’re not going to hold it against us, the workout we put you through?”  
  
“Nah, far from it. I would’ve worked myself to _death_ if you hadn’t helped. And besides, I, ahehehe… _actually liked it. A lot._ ”  
  
Maria gasped slightly. “Didn’t take you for someone who enjoyed getting tickled.”  
  
“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll keep this between us alone,” Fayt replied with a teasing grin. “Our little secret, promise!”  
  
That got even Maria laughing alongside the other two. Then before the others could react, she’d grabbed his ankles in a headlock. “You really shouldn’t have thrown my words back at me, Fayt. Let’s say we call it even after ten more minutes?”  
  
“Deal,” Fayt replied with a challenging smirk, putting his hands behind his head. “And don’t hold back, either. I’ve still got juice to spare!”  
  
“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” Sophia replied, before giving him a peck on the cheek — and then digging her fingers into his sides.  
  
Fayt exploded in a fit of helpless laughter, not daring to put his hands down, and said laughter only redoubled, his body twisting about and his head shaking from side to side, as Maria wasted no time beginning to rake the balls and toes of both feet at once with the nails of her free hand.  
  
Even as the blue-haired boy succumbed to hysterics once more, the part of his mind that remained coherent felt only gratitude and appreciation for these two girls who were now putting him through his paces. They were ruthless ticklers for sure, but they were also a part of his family now. They’d helped him far more than he’d realized before, and now that he knew of that fact, his resolve to set right what had gone wrong with the universe had risen anew. Only this time, he’d be bringing along Sophia, Maria, Cliff, Peppita, and all the rest, because they’d been there for him in spite of everything. He’d trust their capabilities, listen to their counsel, and defend them with his life. He owed them that much.  
  
So from this moment on, Fayt promised himself, and till the end of time, he’d be there for his friends, too… and he certainly wouldn’t mind these two in particular conducting future “research” on his large, soft soles!


End file.
